With the NBA and NBPA officially approving the plan to begin the 2020-21 season on December 22, the challenge for teams now is how they handle the offseason. The draft is set for November 18 and free agency will most likely begin shortly thereafter.
The Philadelphia 76ers will most likely be more active in trades rather than free agency, but with new president Daryl Morey, they promise to be active during this time to improve their team a bit. The challenge for Morey and the rest of the basketball staff is that the team only has roughly $6 million to spend in free agency.
That means they have to find cheap options out on the market that fit their needs of a shooter and a guy who can also hold his own on the defensive end as well. A guy who fits that mold is Wesley Matthews who will most likely come cheap after one season for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Athletic’s John Hollinger has put together his free agency guide for each position and he broke it down this way on Matthews:
Matthews has a player option for $2.7 million, which is barely above his minimum, so there’s really no harm in him declining the option and trying again this summer. Matthews started 67 games as an extreme low-volume 3-and-D wing, something that mostly worked until Miami exposed the Bucks’ shortcomings in the playoffs.
He’s a good but not great shooter (36.4 percent last year) with very limited capabilities off the bounce, and while his muscle and toughness are beneficial in switches against bigger players, he’s just okay at this point laterally. Asking him to fill a starter role again is probably a stretch, but for a contending team his game is pretty easy to slot into a wing rotation.
Matthews would probably be the last option for Morey and the team to look at, but if they can’t get a guy like D.J. Augustin or Langston Galloway, then walking away with Matthews wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. He has definitely lost a step since an Achilles injury in 2015, but he can be a nice veteran addition who brings another shooting option and toughness on the defensive end. [lawrence-related id=38971,38958,38962]